Mar 08, 2021

WSU's Dennis wins American Player of the Week Award

Posted Mar 08, 2021 7:19 PM
Image courtesy <a href="http://goshockers.com">goshockers.com</a>
Image courtesy goshockers.com

Wichita State’s Dexter Dennis is the American Athletic Conference’s Player of the Week for Mar. 1-7.

Dennis – a 6-5 junior from Baker, La. -- averaged 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds on 60 percent shooting to lead WSU to two wins and its first American regular season title. He was 7-of-13 from three.

In Wednesday’s victory in New Orleans, Dennis set season-highs with 20 points and 13 rebounds while limiting Tulane’s Jaylen Forbes to a season-low five points. Dennis added 14 points in Saturday’s title clincher.

It’s Dennis’ first weekly award this season and his first time as conference player of the week. He made the league’s weekly honor roll four times in 2019-20.

Dennis is averaging 9.7 and 4.4 rebounds for the year but has been on a roll as of late. He's reached double-figures in five straight games and is averaging 13.4 points on 13-of-26 three-point shooting during that span, which includes a pair of double-double performances.

Only three teams separate Wichita State (15-4, 11-2 American) from breaking into the top-25 of the Coaches Poll. The Shockers earned 26 votes in Monday’s rankings.

WSU snagged 13 votes in the latest AP Poll – up from 11 last week – as is the equivalent of No. 32 nationally.

The Shockers are the top seed in this week’s Armed Forces American Athletic Conference Championship at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, and will open play Friday morning (11 a.m. CT, ESPN2) with a quarterfinal matchup against either South Florida or Temple.

--goshockers.com--